Tournaments

LUXEMBOURG 2017 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals

Su Pei-Ling stretched to limit but leading names book penultimate round places

03 Feb 2018

The top four names in the Junior Girls’ Singles event at the Luxembourg 2017 ITTF World Junior Circuit all emerged successful at the quarter-final stage of proceedings on the evening of Saturday 3rd February.

Japan’s Maki Shiomi and Miyu Nagasaki, the respective top two seeds, both progressed without due alarm; it was very much the same for Romania’s Adina Diaconu, the no.3 seed. However, for Chinese Taipei’s Su Pei-Ling, the no.4 seed, it was a very different scenario.

Su Pei-Ling, successful but only just (Photo: Rémy Gros)

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

She needed the full seven games to beat Amy Wang of the United States, the no.10 seed, eventually succeeding by the minimal two point margin in the deciding game (12-10, 9-11, 3-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 13-11).

Notably it was the third time that the two had met on the international scene, rather less dramatically at the Croatia Junior and Cadet Open, Su Pei-Ling had prevailed in 2016 when they confronted each other in the Junior Girls’ Singles event, last year she repeated the success in the Junior Girls’ Team competition.

Similar but in less exacting circumstances, Maki Shiomi, Miyu Nagasaki and Adina Diaconu repeated earlier successes.

Maki Shiomi who had beaten Hong Kong’s Chau Wing Sze last year at the Swedish Junior and Cadet Open secured a straight games success against the no.6 seed (11-5, 11-7, 11-7, 11-3).

Likewise, Miyu Nagasaki showed no charity in her defeat of Chen Ting-Ting, the no.11 seed (11-6, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7), nor did Adina Diaconu when facing Thailand’s Jinnipa Sawettabut, the no.8 seed (7-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, 11-5). In 2016 on the ITTF World Junior Circuit, Adina Diaconu had beaten Jinnipa Sawettabut in Poland and had also succeeded in the Under 21 Women’s Singles event in Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, for Miyu Nagasaki it was her fourth confrontation against Chen Ting-Ting and her fourth win. Previously on the 2014 ITTF World Junior Circuit in Chinese Taipei she had beaten Chen Ting-Ting in both the Cadet Girls’ Singles and Cadet Girls’ Team events; last she also prevailed in the Junior Girls’ Singles competition in Hong Kong.